2018 Rostelecom Cup

Moscow, Russia

by Klaus-Reinhold Kany

In 2018, the Rostelecom Cup is the fifth of the six Grand Prix
competitions. In the Western countries this event is often
called the Cup of Russia which had been the real name before
Russia found a sponsor. Like in many years before, it takes
place in Moscow‘s Megasport Arena, which is situated some
miles northwest of the Kremlin and from downtown. This rink
is well-known all over the world and also easy to recognize
by TV-viewers because of its bright colorful seats for the
spectators. It had also served for the World Championships
2011, which had been removed from Tokyo to Russia after the
earthquake, tsunami and disaster of a nuclear power station
in Japan in March 2011, just one week before the planned
schedule.

The biggest star and men‘s gold favorite is Yuzuru Hanyu who
plans his second Grand Prix after winning in Finland.
Everything but gold again would be a big surprise and only
possible if he is in bad shape. Hoping for the other medals
are Mikhail Kolyada from Russia, Keegan Messing from Canada,
Artur Dmitriev junior and Andrei Lazukin from Russia as well
as Kazuki Tomono from Japan.

In the ladies competition, the 2018 Olympic Champion Alina
Zagitova from Russia hopes to win her second Grand Prix
after Helsinki. The other top skaters are Mako Yamashita and
Yuna Shiraiwa from Japan, Sofia Samodurova and Polina
Tsursakaia from Russia and Elizabet Tursynbaeva from
Kazakhstan. A bis question mark is Gracie Gold who had been
invited in May for a comeback. She arrived in Moscow on
Wednesday, but she has not done any smaller competition
which U.S. Figure Skating normally requires some weeks
before a Grand Prix. Karen Chen has had injury problems for
a long time, but she withdrew so late that no alternate
could be invited. This is an unfair and not sportsmanlike
behavior.

In pairs, the 2018 world silver medalists Evgenia Tarasova
& Vladimir Morozov from Russia are the favorites. The
other medal candidates are U.S. skaters Ashley Cain and
Timothy LeDuc, the two Russian pairs Daria Pavliuchenko &
Denis Khodykin as well as Alisa Efimova & Alexander Korovin.
The Italians Nicole Della Monica & Matteo Guarise
also have a chance for a spot on the podium.

In Ice Dance, Alexandra Stepanova & Ivan Bukin from Russia
should normally be the best. Other candidates for a medal
are Sara Hurtado & Kirill Khaliavin from Spain, Natalia
Kalisek & Maskym Spodyriev from Poland plus U.S. dancers
Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko. The other U.S.
team of Madison Chock & Evan Bates withdrew too late to
invite somebody else, which is, like in the case of Karen
Chen, not a fair and sportsmanlike behavior because all of
them had already withdrawn from their first Grand Prix and
knew probably much earlier that they cannot compete in
Russia either.